I spent a couple of hours on the Stumpjumper yesterday exploring Cringle Plantation, one of the more technical mountain bike areas on the Isle of Man. Towards the end of the blue dot community trail I was transported into a magical woodland of mature, moss-covered larch, planted just wide enough to allow a carpet of wild clover to conceal the entire forest floor, and that carpet was now in full bloom.

The sight of millions of little white flowers amongst all that wild clover stopped me in my tracks and I knew that I’d be coming back later with my DSLR, tripod, and a couple of fast primes.

Sure enough I was back an hour before sunset and had avoided the challenge of shadow and light coming through the forest canopy, but now all those white flowers were closing up for the night and I was being eaten alive by the midges.

I managed to get a couple of angles with the 35mm F1.4 before beating a hasty retreat, and made up for it by capturing some images of the wild garlic that covers the Isle of Man at this time of year.